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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0597.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director . G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Editor C. M. POULSEN Assistant Editor • MAURICE A. SMITH,'D.F.C WING COR., R.A.F.V.RJ Art Editor - - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL Y IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED WOQ Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices. DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedisc, London. Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 inei). COVENTRY: S-IO, CORPORATION ST. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry S2I0. BIRMINGHAM 2: NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 2*0 DEANSGATE. Te/egroms Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars +412. GLASGOW, C.2 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams: Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone- Central 48 57. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home and Abroad : Year, £3 I 0. Registered at the C.P.Q. as a Newspaper. 6 months, £1 10 6. No. 1944. Vol. XLIX March 28th, 1946. Hhe Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling, Turbine MaintenanceD URING the all-day debate on the application of gas turbines to aircraft propulsion at the Royal Aeronautical Society recently, Air Commodore Worstall referred to the reduction by 50 per cent in the number of engine fitters needed at his fighter station since the squadrons were equipped with jet-propelled aircraft. That there is still room for improvement goes without saying, and the Air Commodore mentioned several respects in which jet-propelled aircraft are at a disadvantage. Electric starters was one He quoted 700 amps as the consumption of the Derwent, and 1,000 amps for the later Goblins, suggesting that a two-stroke petrol engine starter would be a welcome alternative. In point of fact, we believe this change is being made. More rapid refuelling was another improvement demanded for, as the Air Commodore put it, in spite of what Dr; Hooker had said, the jet engines need a lot of fuel. Greater accessibility to the jet units in the air- craft would be welcomed, but as Mr. Carter retorted, ' if all these things were attended to, there would be no need for engine fitters in the R.A.F. ! All jesting apart, however, there appears to be no ""•pubt that turbine engines-do require very little atten- tion during their, at present, somewhat short period of installed life. An article in this issue, by an expert on maintenance and servicing, makes it clear just how few man-hours are needed to keep jet units in running order. The period between overhauls is short r.t the moment, but as our contributor points out, that is mainly; t precautionary measure, and there is every reason to believe that this period will gradually be extended until it equals or surpasses that of piston engines. After all, the gas turbine is very young, and the remarkable thing is that'already it has accomplished so much with so little trouble. In civil aviation, where it has not yet been tried, the gas turbine should effect an even more welcome saving in man-hours than in service aircraft. There is usually no great scarcity of man-power in the R.A.F., but in the commercial world the simplicity of the gas turbine, and the relatively short time needed for inspection and adjustments can make a very appreciable difference to the balance sheet of an airline by making possible a quicker turn-round, thus enabling an aircraft to put in more working hours in a year. That would help to pay for the greater fuel consumption with which most people think we shall have to put up, in spite of any disclaimers to the contrary. Powerless Helicopter LandingsM AIN advantages claimed for the helicopter type of aircraft are that it can take-off and land vertically, using a very confined space as its "airfield." The former is true, the latter only with qualifications. And even in vertical ascent the power required is a good deal greater than if a climb is made with some forward speed. In this issue we publish an article, by an officer who has made a number of dead-engine landings with heli- copters,- in which he outlines various techniques. The vertical descent followed by a touch-down without for- ward speed is much too risky, owing to the very high sinking speed. The two alternative methods recommended are a glide approach followed by a touch-down at forward speed, and a glide approach terminating in a vertical touch- down. The former of these is very similar to landing an Autogiro. In the latter the pilot uses finer rotor- blade pitch for the glide aporoach, increasing the pitch to slow-down the rate of descent, just before touching down. This method may, perhaps, be said to require a degree of piloting skill comparable with that needed in the old davs to make a so-called "Gosport landing," viz., a sideslip to within a few feet of the ground, fol- lowed by a last-minute straightening-up and heading
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